I’m going to present two simple scenarios, and I want you to think about how you’d respond to each.
Scenario 1:
I sit you down and present two options for how to spend your time over the next hour. One is to play a video game with some friends (in this scenario, you like video games). The other is to spend it planning a big, important trip you’ll take next month.
I give you all the pros and cons you need to decide, and I explain clearly that choosing the video game will mean having fun now and seeing your friends but will seriously jeopardize your trip. You also understand choosing to plan the trip will make you feel amazing later and you’ll regret choosing the video game.
Given this information, which choice would you make?
Scenario 2:
You own a MacBook. You’ve bought three of them so far, and your current one is about to die. We’re at the store together, and I’m helping you choose a replacement. We’re comparing the newest MacBook to another machine from Dell. The Dell has better specs across the board, and it’s also less expensive. But, there’s no information about the Dell’s battery. It could be good or it could be bad—we don’t know.
Given the better specs of the Dell, how concerned would you be about the battery? And what are the chances you’d still choose the MacBook?
I posed these same questions to myself and, of course, decided I’d take the logical choices: I’d plan for my upcoming trip, and I’d choose the Dell—if all the other specs are better, why wouldn’t the battery be better, also?
But much research shows what I think I’d do in these situations is completely different from what I’d actually do.
In fact, you and I are more than twice as likely to choose the video game, and we’d be very suspicious of the Dell’s battery. We’d choose the MacBook instead.
Basically, we’ll choose short-term rewards that reinforce bad habits rather than long-term gains that build good ones.
The good news, though, is a few simple tricks exist you can use to reverse this problem and guarantee you start spending your time and effort building the good habits that will make you a smarter and more adventurous risk-taker.
If this all sounds crazy, keep reading.
Less Information = Better Decisions
In almost any situation, you’d think more information would help you make a better decision. After all, we spend our whole lives seeking information to help us live better, everyone wants to know what’s going on in the world, and countries spend all their money spying and gathering “intelligence” on each other.
But what if I told you the reality is that less information will help you make better long-term decisions?
That’s exactly what a team of researchers at the University of Texas found, when they studied the decision-making habits of 78 otherwise intelligent people.
When the volunteers were given complete information about two choices—one with an immediate reward and one with a much bigger, long-term benefit—they chose the short-term reward more than twice as often.
But here’s what’s really interesting. The bias for smaller, short-term gains disappeared when the volunteers weren’t given complete information about their choices. When they were kept in the dark about the pros and cons, more people chose the bigger, long-term reward.
This really is better living through uncertainty.
Here’s something even crazier.
When a couple researches from Columbia and Stanford studied how you make decisions about what products to buy, they found if you already know a product (ie. you have the habit of purchasing it), you’ll happily overlook missing information about it that would tell you how good it actually is.
If you’re looking at an unfamiliar product, you’ll be highly suspicious of the same missing information!
We think our taste for quality informs our choices, but actually it’s the opposite: our choices inform our taste, and then we lie to ourselves about what we chose.
What this means for you is if you have a bad habit now, trying to fully understand that habit will only make you prefer it more and, because you’re familiar with it, you’ll overlook information that would make it less attractive.
This basically flips most of what we think we naturally know about building good habits on its head. It means ditching a bad habit and building a good one requires a different approach from what you’re probably used to.
Here’s what to do.
Here’s What Will Help Good Habits Stick
So you know what you’re up against:
- The more you weigh the pros and cons of good and bad decisions, the more you’ll choose the bad one.
- The more familiar you are with a bad habit, the more you’ll overlook information that would help you see it as harmful.
But what are you supposed to actually do with this information?
First, realize the more you search for information about poor choices, the more you’ll reinforce those bad decisions. Instead, the best option is to take your focus away from the bad choices altogether and focus on the good ones—the changes you want to make—instead.
Any parent with an ornery child knows exactly how this works. The more you focus on the temper tantrum, the more temper tantrum you get! You’ll fare better ignoring your child when he’s being a little jerk and rewarding and reinforcing his behavior when he’s eating his vegetables and playing nicely with the cat.
The same is true of your habits. If you want to stop eating junk food and start exercising, forget about stopping the junk food habit. Just focus on exercising more. As you start to see and feel the long-term benefits of working out, you won’t want to eat junk food anymore.
Once you have enough good habits, you won’t have time for bad ones!
And to help you cope with the agony of waiting for good long-term benefits to come when bad short-term relief is always just around the corner, don’t rely on willpower to overcome your desires. Instead, look for ways to create small milestones on your way to greater success that will satisfy the craving for immediate results.
Now, you can focus on short-term benefits that contribute to your long-term goals.
Do This In The Next 10 Minutes
This all sounds great and you’re excited to put your new knowledge to work. But let’s be honest; you’re more likely to go check out Facebook, text a friend, and forget all about this lesson in a few minutes.
Let’s flip that script. You’ve invested time—real time you’re not going to get back—into reading this article.
Here’s what I want you to do now to put it to work and start reinforcing good habits in your life.
- Grab a notebook/piece of scrap paper/napkin/whatever’s closest to you and a pen.
- Write down one good habit you want to work on that will make your life better. Maybe it’s riding your bike or writing or going to the gym. Doesn’t matter what it is.
- Write down the long-term vision. How is this habit going to make your life better. (Hint: focus on lifestyle changes)
- Now, create a very small milestone. Pick something really small you can do to support this new habit. It should be small enough to finish by the end of the day.
- Leave a comment letting us all know what you’re going to do by the end of the day. Bonus points if you come update us again when you’ve completed it.
Stop fighting your bad habits, and start focusing on your good ones instead. This is science that’s going to help you live a better life, and it gives you permission to forget about (the more difficult) half of the equation. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Additional sources for this article:
What Happens to Your Brain When You Eat Junk Food (And Why We Crave It)
I’m going to make a list of the things I’m going to accomplish tomorrow, right before I go to bed.
I like the studies you cited; it validates the ‘gut instinct’ that leaders rely upon when making decisions. Colin Powell uses the 40-70 rule; he makes a decision when he has more than forty, but less than seventy, percent of the information. Too much information can cloud our judgment; that is spooky.
Great! You should share that list once you’ve finished it.
And I’m glad you mentioned “gut instinct.” I’m doing a lot of research on it right now. Turns out: it’s great for some decisions, but terrible for others.
Have you read the book “blink”? It’s a great read and talks about that!
I *have* read blink. It’s fantastic.
I am going to buy a ten class card to the dance studio I want to audition for. Usually when I need to make decisions I use one of those paper fortune teller/cootie catchers things you made on the playground when you were a kid. You immediately know what you really wanted because if you don’t get it you want to try again.
Ha; I remember those
My room is a disaster area right now. I want it to be better organized and I know I can do it. I just procrastinate, but after reading your article, tonight I will do at least one thing that helps. I will clear off room on my dresser to put a lamp. It’s beneficial because it gives me the additional light in my room I want and keeps me from having to walk around it or knock it over.
Ok, so the lamp is where I want it now. I also cleaned the litter box, took out the trash, and refilled the soap dispenser. Friday’s goal is to move the stuff in front of the dresser so I can move it and plug the lamp in the wall socket behind the dresser. Will report back on Friday.
Oh, interesting. Sounds like getting started on one small task lead to the motivation to complete a bunch more. Not unexpected, but fun to read!
I’m going to complete the three things I need to do to attend Knowledge14 in San Francisco in two weeks.
I need to contact my AirBnB host.
I need to figure out the car situation.
I need to get my partner to fill out their Agenda, so we know what we’re doing during the Conference.
Partner = Registered. With a $300 discount because we waited until *after* she picked up a gig at an University and scored the Educational discount! Procrastinating really paid big for once!
Agenda settled, too.
AirBnB settled.
Looking at RelayRides for going to Sausalito, and for seeing my mom the first weekend of May. Surprised that we might be able to get by without a car at all, really…
You’re really giving us the play by play! Glad it inspired you to take action.
Thanks for the great post Tyler. I’ve just started doing this being inspired by a group I belong to. We’re using Lift.do for 30-day activities with a daily check-in.
You’re right about the junk food. After starting a daily workout and cardio, my desire for the junk declined to the point of it basically fading away, no decision necessary. Good luck to all of us!
Funny how that works, right? The more good stuff stuff you add to your life, the more the bad stuff just naturally takes a back seat.
I got 2 bad habits tht I really really desperately want to get rid of..
1. I dnt do exercise, as a result m gaining weight around belly area n it is embarrassing.
2. I chew tobacco coated betelnuts, da worst of my habits. It has effected my breathing, my teeth, gums. Yet, I cnt get rid of it. It’s a daily battle.. I lose everything damn day.. N it hurts like hell…
But, after many many months of reading inspiring stuff to make me strong so tht I can inspire myself to leave it, today after reading this. I really realise, I was lookin at all da wrong places…
My goal, to exercise 15mins at da end of da day. Also, to decrease da quantity of chewing tobacco as of today.
Wil give feedback in a couple of days..!!!
What an article… Amazing. Thnkx.
Good luck, Shah!
Thanks for the article Tyler. This is making me think about some of the areas in my life that I want to improve and it has also made me reflect of some of the decisions that was made in the past and I realize that I must’ve thought too long and hard about those things and in up making bad/poor choices. So, I plan on reading this again and applying this to what I do in my life. Again, thanks.
For best results, get started now! Will you actually come back and read this again?
I am going to kick start my weight loss again. No elevators today, stairs only.
Okay, good goal. Let us know how many stairs you climb.
Thanks for the motivation Tyler! I’ve been reading your blog for at least a year and absolutely love it. It’s my first time “participating” though so a tad nervous!
What I am going to do today – set up a mini-schedule for my artistic practice, complete all things on my list and document it on my tumblr blog http://sampanink.tumblr.com !
I’m trying to launch my art career, which was doing quite well in Montreal, but just recently moved to France, so I need to work on this new challenge, get my work out, and find the people here who relate to my work and find inspiration from it.
No need to be nervous! Everyone here is very supportive, and we’re glad to have you as part of the community.
Interested to see how the documentation goes—it can be a big motivator for some people knowing that their goals are public.
Great post, Tyler! I’m learning to trust my intuition more, and I wonder if that is because having too much information takes the “gut”/self out of the decision?
Also, the cultivation of good habits drowns out bad ones?! Brilliant, yes! Today, I’m setting a goal of starting a conversation with someone I haven’t spoken to before. I’m transitioning to a new career in June, and networking will be a huge part of my new job. Best to get the ball rolling!
I want to create a healthy morning program to start my day. (Did this before for 6 years every day I’d do morning pages, meditate and tai chi chih). Today when I awake I will do tai chi chih
. It’s cool to look back and see how the good habits helped us! Thanks for all your fabulous posts and congrats on #7!
Love your blog, Tyler!
Hear ye! Hear ye! Here is my public announcement: My bad habit is if I slightly do not feel like going to my kickboxing class, which is 3xs a week, I do not go. (The crazy side of this is when I talk myself into going after one of these, “I don’t want to go” rants, I feel energized and glad I went.)
Anyhoo, the good habit: Attend kickboxing class everyday that I can, 3xs a week, which means when I am in town. (I travel a lot).
Long-term vision: This will support my weight loss goal to finally reach my super stretch weight loss goal, by my birthday in mid June (I’m 5 pounds away). It will also help my energy level, general emotional state, and decrease my appetite. Who doesn’t want a piece of that?!
It’s my dream to wake up early morning. Most of the times when I hadnot slept last night that is the only time I am able to enjoy morning.
I feel waking up early and doing my stuff can make me a different person all together. …alas um damn lazy….
Thanks Tyler! This is a great article and you’re right about saying that the more good habits you add to your routine, the more the bad ones are being forgotten because you won’t have much time to entertain them anymore, right? Cheers!
Tyler,
I needed this more than I can say. I’m in the middle of trying to develop different, better habits. Just by chance I hit on the idea of focusing on the replacement, good habit. The rest of your steps are a huge boon. Tonight, by the time I go to bed, I’m going to drink one more bottle of water instead of diet soda, and that’s my focus for the week. More water. If I’m drinking water I’m automatically not drinking soda and I don’t even have to think about it.
We all have hopes and dreams. If you don’t, you’re probably not the type of person who would be reading this article. And most of the time, we have at least a general sense of what those goals are: the way we want our bodies to look and the good health we want to enjoy, the respect we want to receive from our peers and the important work we want to create, the relationships we want with our family and friends and the love we want to share.
Overall, this is a good thing. It’s nice to know what you want and having goals gives you a sense of direction and purpose. However, there is one way that your hopes and dreams actually sabotage you from becoming better: your desires can easily lure you into biting off more than you can chew. Change this habits to avoid
regrets in life. Bad habits is equal to regrets so change it right now!
[…] truth. The more deeply you consider each of your options, the more information you gather, the less likely you are to make a good choice. And so the more you focus on what you’re not doing (your other ideas/goals) the harder it […]